International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Oct 17 stresses right to live with dignity
The day, marked every year on October 17, aims to raise awareness of poverty, hear those trapped in it and protect their basic human rights.
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The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed across the world on October 17 every year. The day aims to make people aware of poverty around the world. It also aims to listen to people caught in the cycle of poverty and to protect their basic human rights.
The UN General Assembly formally adopted a resolution on December 22, 1992, and through it declared October 17 the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Since then the day has been marked every year with a particular theme, which gives direction to poverty-eradication policies around the world.
When poverty comes up, most people think of low income or a lack of money. Seen from the human rights perspective, however, poverty is not merely an economic problem. It is a tangled condition that challenges a person's very existence. Poverty keeps a person away from good education, proper health facilities, clean drinking water and a safe roof over the head. Above all, it denies the person the right to live with dignity in society. When a family goes to bed hungry, or someone dies for want of treatment, it is not merely a failure of money. It is a failure of the social and economic system.
Ensuring social justice and equal opportunity for all is considered essential to the thinking on poverty eradication. The social disparity that poverty creates deepens inequality. For this reason, special campaigns, awareness programmes and policy discussions are held at various levels in the world and in India. To strengthen people below the poverty line, it is necessary to provide employment opportunities, quality education and social security. Poverty can truly be defeated only when every citizen gets an equal opportunity to work and advance according to their ability.
A task as big as eradicating poverty cannot be completed by the government or any single organisation alone. The government, social organisations, the corporate sector (CSR) and every thoughtful citizen must work together. Government schemes must be implemented properly and aid must reach the grassroots. Making the poor stand on their own feet, rather than dependent on aid, is the need of the hour. The real meaning of the day is to put in a united, full effort so that no one goes hungry, no one lacks a roof and everyone gets a life of dignity.
